After dying down to almost nothing, the comment spam has increased in frequency since around the first of the year. And the spammers have learned that less is more. Where they used to pack 10 or 20 links into a comment which made it easy to set a filter to catch it, now they settle for one or two links which lets it fly under the radar. Where they used to hammer you repeatedly from the same IP address and relentlessly flog the same domain, now they hit you from different addresses and promote a different domain with almost every comment. It makes it much harder to figure out which IPs to ban and which keywords to add to the blacklist.
We've had an open comment section for over six years but when someone spammed us earlier this week to promote a twitter feed and I caught myself contemplating adding twitter.com to the blacklist, I decided it was time to do something. So after I publish this, I'm going to enable comment authentication and commenter registration. Assuming it all works, I'll update this post with anything you might want to know. And I'll keep bumping this post through the weekend and into Monday. I apologize for the inconvenience. And I do hope those who regularly comment here will put up with it.
Updated on the flip.
Okay, that's a bit more annoying the first time than I thought it would be. If you're not authenticated, you'll be confronted with a message at the bottom of a comment thread telling you to sign in to comment. Clicking on the link takes you to a Movable Type screen where you can choose from several ID systems including WordPress, OpenID and Livejournal.
The default option is Movable Type which actually means your registration with this site. There's a link to register if you want to and that's pretty straightforward but be advised that you'll need a legitimate email address and you'll have to confirm your registration. Once you're registered and signed in, it remembers you unless you sign out. I set up a test identity and signed in. I clicked away and came back and I was still signed in. I closed my browser and launched it again and I was still signed in. So the annoyance isn't permanent. If you want to talk to us, I encourage you to register. (But if it turns out your real interest is in posting a link to real estate listings in San Diego, you're done for.)
To the other authors: your author ID is your commenter ID.
And another thing:
If you're having trouble getting registered, you can always contact me at the email address linked under Contributors at the top right. Tell me:
- Your user name, i.e. the login name
- Your screen name, i.e. the name that will appear with your comment
- The email address to use. This may come into play if you want to reset your password at some point.
- Your website URL if you want your screen name to link to it
You can specify a password or I can make one up and email it back to you. You can subsequently change your password to one I won't know* by going to the sign in screen, entering your user name while leaving the password field blank and clicking on the link to tell Movable Type that you've lost your password. That takes you to a screen that asks for the email address that's on file with your registration. Supply that and MT will send you a link you can use to reset your password. Clear as mud?
* I have no access to the password you set up if you use the automated registration procedure and no access to the one you would set up if you reset it as described here. I can change your password within MT but that doesn't accomplish much since you can just reset it again.
This is a test.
This is a comment after registering.
I just had to try this newfangled "sign in" thingy and by jingle it works!
Now, about that condo...
Thanks for testing. It's always nice to have independent verification.
pogge made me sign in. That hurts my feelings.
How come my handle doesn't link to POGGE?
How come my handle doesn't link to POGGE?
Because it's not set up properly in your profile in Movable Type. You'll have to go in there to fix it.
Testing .. testing...
Logged in, logged out, logged back in.
It's workin'!
Testing one, two, three, testing.
Moved in by type, I am! ;)
Yoda? Is that you?
Spammers suck, test, test.
Man: You sit here, dear.
Wife: All right.
Man: Morning!
Waitress: Morning!
Man: Well, what've you got?
Waitress: Well, there's egg and bacon; egg sausage and bacon; egg and spam; egg bacon and spam; egg bacon sausage and spam; spam bacon sausage and spam; spam egg spam spam bacon and spam; spam sausage spam spam bacon spam tomato and spam;
Vikings: Spam spam spam spam...
Waitress: ...spam spam spam egg and spam; spam spam spam spam spam spam baked beans spam spam spam...
Vikings: Spam! Lovely spam! Lovely spam!
Waitress: ...or Lobster Thermidor a Crevette with a mornay sauce served in a Provencale manner with shallots and aubergines garnished with truffle pate, brandy and with a fried egg on top and spam.
Wife: Have you got anything without spam?
Waitress: Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
Wife: I don't want ANY spam!
Man: Why can't she have egg bacon spam and sausage?
Wife: THAT'S got spam in it!
Man: Hasn't got as much spam in it as spam egg sausage and spam, has it?
Vikings: Spam spam spam spam... (Crescendo through next few lines...)
Wife: Could you do the egg bacon spam and sausage without the spam then?
Waitress: Urgghh!
Wife: What do you mean 'Urgghh'? I don't like spam!
Vikings: Lovely spam! Wonderful spam!
Waitress: Shut up!
Vikings: Lovely spam! Wonderful spam!
Waitress: Shut up! (Vikings stop) Bloody Vikings! You can't have egg bacon spam and sausage without the spam.
Wife: I don't like spam!
Man: Sshh, dear, don't cause a fuss. I'll have your spam. I love it. I'm having spam spam spam spam spam spam spam beaked beans spam spam spam and spam!
Vikings: Spam spam spam spam. Lovely spam! Wonderful spam!
Waitress: Shut up!! Baked beans are off.
Man: Well could I have her spam instead of the baked beans then?
Waitress: You mean spam spam spam spam spam spam... (but it is too late and the Vikings drown her words)
Vikings: (Singing elaborately...) Spam spam spam spam. Lovely spam! Wonderful spam! Spam spa-a-a-a-a-am spam spa-a-a-a-a-am spam. Lovely spam! Lovely spam! Lovely spam! Lovely spam! Lovely spam! Spam spam spam spam!
Sorry couldn't resist the urge
I think I'll just have coffee. Hold the spam.
So you're saying you want spam, spam, coffee and spam . . .
Without the spam?!
Can they put the spam on the side?
There was no comment spam to clean up this morning. So I've got that going for me.
Testing. (Server's in Saskatchewan. The DST change requires a manual adjustment.)
We in Saskatchewan refuse to adjust. Manually or otherwise.
I've noticed. Twice a year.
There wasn't any free coffee either, though. I had to make my own coffee.
Damn spammers - registering was a pain.
but I'm still here, reading, watching, lurking, and trying not to be a troll. ;-)
Thanks for staying with it.